2.5 Government finance, fiscal and public sector statistics (CIS-STAT)

State Budget Income and Expenditure

Ongoing work:

Collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of data on State budget income and expenditure in the Commonwealth countries over the period 2010-2011 (quarterly and yearly).
• Preparation of analytical reports on financial situation in the Commonwealth countries.
• Assistance to the Commonwealth countries in improving financial statistics, including the formulation of proposals to improve statistical reporting and adapt international standards (especially in government finance statistics) to national circumstances in the organisation of statistics in these countries.

2.5 Government finance, fiscal and public sector statistics (ECB)

• Continue improving the quality of quarterly figures of euro area government deficit, debt and the deficit-debt adjustment.
• Continue improving the quality of annual government finance statistics and of the metadata information on revisions and deficit-debt adjustments.
• Carry out methodological work on the recording of the government interventions to support financial markets and institutions and their impact on the government deficit and debt figures.
• Support Eurostat in the update of the Manual on Government Deficit and debt.
• Compilation of euro area government employment schemes.

2.5 Government finance, fiscal and public sector statistics (Eurostat)

Theme 2.04 Government finance statistics

1. Description

Government finance statistics cover financial and non-financial data relating to the expenditure, revenue and financing of government. These data are reported on a quarterly and annual frequency to Eurostat, are validated and published, and are usually the subject of Statistics in Focus and other publications. Eurostat has the central role in the assessment of debt and deficit data in the context of the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP), and to this end works closely with Member States to ensure the quality and methodological soundness of these data.

2. Work Programme for 2010

2.1 ONGOING WORK

Carry out six-monthly assessment of debt and deficit data of Member States, and provision of these data.

Update the ESA95 Manual on Government Deficit and Debt.

Discuss selected methodological issues with Member States and provide bilateral advice.

Carry out statistical assessment of candidate countries.

Develop inventories of sources and methods for deficit and debt statistics.

Publish Statistics in Focus on all relevant annual and quarterly government finance statistics (see above).

Collaborate with DG TAXUD to produce an annual publication on tax structures.

Complete the production and publication of detailed (COFOG level II) data for government expenditure by function.

2.3 SIMPLIFICATION AND BURDEN REDUCTION

Development of tools to aid Member States' validation before data transmission.

2.5 Government finance, fiscal and public sector statistics (ILO)

Social protection expenditure and revenues

Ongoing activities:
• The ILO Social Security Inquiry collects statistics on social security expenditure and financing; its methodological approach is compatible as far as possible with the SNA, the Eurostat-ESSPROS approach to social protection revenue and expenditure statistics, the OECD Social Protection Expenditure database and the IMF's 2001 Government Finance Statistics guidelines (see 1.6 for more details).

2.5 Government finance, fiscal and public sector statistics (IMF)

Government Finance Statistics (GFS)

• Work on preparing companion materials for Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001) is continuing. Given the need to provide guidance to compilers and analysts on specific conceptual issues, staff are developing generic methodological guidance notes in the form of a "Frequently Asked Questions" facility, which will be accessible from an electronic database.
• A Fact Sheet explaining how GFS are compiled from administrative and accounting records, that highlights basic features of internationally comparable GFS and lists associated services provided by the IMF to its member countries, was developed in 2009. A paper was prepared for an in-depth review of GFS conducted by the 2009-2010 Bureau of the CES, discussed at their October 2009 meeting in Washington, D.C. Staff commenced work during the last quarter of 2009 on the preparation of a revised GFSM 2001, that incorporates the changes introduced in the 2008 SNA.
• The IMF provides technical assistance in GFS to member countries through a variety of channels, including staff or expert missions to individual countries. Each year, the IMF organizes GFS courses at headquarters and at regional centers. In recent years, hands-on short workshops are also being undertaken.
• Implementation of the GFSM 2001 is progressing steadily. The IMF collects fiscal data on member countries and disseminates these in its GFS Yearbook, quarterly CD-ROMs that cover data for 145 countries from 1990 onward, and other publications. For the 2009 GFS Yearbook, which contains annual data, about 90% of the countries reported data in the GFSM 2001 framework. For all countries, the data reported before 2003 were converted by the IMF from the GFSM 1986 to the GFSM 2001 framework.
• The GFSY database will soon be available on the IMF's website and will continue to be available in two CD-ROM products: (1) the Government Finance Statistics Database and Browser on CD-ROM (1990-present in GFSM 2001 format), released on a quarterly basis and providing various analytical presentations of the annual time series for all reported subsectors of general government; and (2) A Manual on Government Finance Statistics, 1986 (GFSM 1986) Historical Database and Browser on CD-ROM (1972 89), containing time series of annual GFS data compiled prior to 1990, using the analytical framework of the GFSM 1986. The print publication of the GFSY was discontinued effective in 2009, as summary monthly, quarterly, and annual statistics in GFSM 2001 format are now published in the IFS.
• A project was initiated in late 2005 to start collecting monthly and quarterly data according to the GFSM 2001 framework as well. High-frequency data according to the GFSM 2001 were published in the IFS starting in August 2007 (replacing the monthly and/or quarterly fiscal data that followed the 1986 guidelines). By January 2010, the IFS included subannual fiscal data for 88 countries, of which 71 countries are using the GFSM 2001 framework to report their data. Particular attention is being given to the availability and timeliness of fiscal data for G-20 countries.
• Under the aegis of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Finance Statistics (TFFS)1 that is chaired by the IMF is drafting a guide for compiling public sector debt statistics. The completed draft will be presented at the next meeting in March 2010.
• Close cooperation with IPSASB continues, and has led to a better understanding of the relation between GFS and international public accounting standards. An IPSASB meeting in May 2009 was hosted by the IMF.

2.5 Government finance, fiscal and public sector statistics (OECD)

Consumption Tax Trends

Purpose

To compile data from OECD member countries on their consumption tax rates, scopes and thresholds and provide comparative tables and analysis of trends. This includes data on VAT/GST, selected excise duties and car taxation. To compile statistics on VAT/GST revenues from internal OECD sources in order to provide an analysis of trends and calculate the VAT Revenue Ratio. To provide information about a number of consumption tax topics.

General aspects:
Compared to 2008 Edition, Chapter on Special Features will change (2010 topic: Application of Value Added Taxes in federal countries). Methodological amendments will be brought to the calculation of the VAT Revenue Ratio.

Central Government Debt Statistics

Purpose

To provide an analytical tool primarily to government debt managers as well as to financial analysts including policy analysts, security analysts, commercial financial institutions, research analysts, etc. This work is carried out under the auspices of the Working Party on Government Debt Management.
The publication "Central Government Debt - Statistical Yearbook" provides annual statistics on central government debt instruments in the 30 OECD countries. The coverage of the data is limited to central government debt issuance; it excludes state and local government debt and social security funds. The main focus of the statistics is marketable debt instruments as well as duration and average term to maturity of domestic, foreign and total debt.
In addition, the publication provides individual country notes including methodological information such as a description of debt instruments and selling techniques in each country.

Objectives and outputs

In the 2009 edition of the statistical yearbook, more series on ultra long-term bonds and on index-linked bonds have been added in all tables by country.
In the OECD data warehouse "OECD.Stat", the hierarchy of the dimension "Variables" was modified to facilitate users' understanding; the import parameter file used to import data from the Excel questionnaire to StatWorks was transformed from an Excel file to an XML file and the dimension "Frequency" that contains only one element was removed.
Accession countries' data were checked and stored in the database.

Non-member countries involved in the activity

Chile, Estonia, Israel, Slovenia.

Databases

Central Government Debt Statistics.

Main Developments for 2010

General aspects:
Collection and publication of 2009 data.
The implementation of Statlinks.

Data collection:
Data of accessing countries and 2009 data.

Data management:
All coordinates in MetaStore were modified as the dimension "Frequency" of the dataset was removed.

Fiscal Relations Across Levels of Government

Purpose

To collect data to support the activities of the Network on Fiscal Relations across Levels of Government. This includes data on sub national governments' discretion over own revenues and expenditures, on the design of local taxes, on intergovernmental transfers, on fiscal equalisation, on indicators of decentralisation, and on macroeconomic management of sub-central finance.

Objectives and outputs

Collection of two datasets:

indicators of tax autonomy of sub-central governments

indicators of the composition of intergovernmental grants

Databases
Fiscal decentralisation.

Main Developments for 2010

General aspects:
Data will be available on OECD.Stat.

Monitoring of Private Pension Systems: Global Pension Statistics

Purpose

Launched in 2002 this exercise provides a unique source of comparable statistics and indicators of funded pension plan systems from an international perspective and also facilitates cross-country comparisons of the most up-to-date statistics and indicators on key aspects of funded retirement systems across OECD and non-OECD countries. It aims to provide information about the main trends and features of funded pension plan systems in a clear and concise format.

Objectives and outputs

It aims to provide in a compact manner a comparative overview of the importance and structure of private and funded pension systems across OECD and non-OECD countries using a selected set of statistics and indicators, compiled on an on-going basis together with its companion product dedicated to the description and assessment of countries' statistical methodology following the OECD Classification on pension plans and pension funds.
Access to OECD private pension statistics has been enhanced through the dissemination of additional data and selected indicators through the OECD Web statistical portal (OECD.Stat). This should be further enriched with the inclusion of country profiles providing key indicators on a country per country basis. As far as paper publications are concerned, the "Private Pensions Outlook 2008" and the newsletter "Pension Markets in Focus" were released in February 2009 and October 2009 respectively. Contributions to other OECD publications (e.g. 'OECD in figures', 'OECD Factbook') will continue in 2010 as well as approximately sixty country profiles generated for the IOPS Web site on a yearly basis.

General aspects:
With respect to quality improvements, the work in 2010 will focus on further improving data completeness for certain financing vehicles (e.g. pension insurance contracts, book reserves), by pension plan and fund types (e.g. data pertaining to personal plans, DB vs. DC) and also across selected variables (e.g. foreign investments, operating costs). Special attention will be dedicated to come up with a thorough understanding of the exact coverage of certain investment classes.
Selected methodological issues will also be addressed. One area of focus will be valuation methods for assets and liabilities, investment performance and funding ratios, comparing national experiences with international standards. Specific issues, such as the valuation of hard-to-value assets and derivatives may also be examined.

Revenue Statistics

Purpose
To provide data on tax revenues in OECD countries. These data are widely used within and outside the OECD to analyse tax policy developments in OECD countries.

Objectives and outputs

The annual "Revenue Statistics" publication provides a conceptual framework to define which government receipts should be regarded as taxes and to classify different types of taxes. It presents a set of detailed, internationally comparable tax data in a common format for all OECD countries from 1965 onwards.
Special features dealing with specific areas of interest (e.g. the interpretation of tax-to-GDP ratios; the impact of revised GDP figures on reported tax levels; changes to the rules for attributing revenues by level of government) represent an important component of the annual report.

Databases

Revenue Statistics.

Main Developments for 2010

General aspects:
The addition of figures for countries joining the OECD.
Re-drafting the commentary on the latest figures.

Data collection

Addition of accession countries joining OECD before the start of the data collection round.

Tax Rates

Purpose

To provide information on tax rates in OECD countries. The taxes covered are personal and corporate income taxes, social security contributions and value added tax. The data are used to analyse tax rate trends and their policy implications.

Objectives and outputs

Data tables showing, for each of the main taxes, the rate and its method of application in each country are disseminated on the OECD website.

Databases

OECD Tax Database.

Main Developments for 2010

General aspects:
Inclusion of graphs showing average tax wedges across the income distribution for a set of hypothetical families. Also inclusion of data on new member countries.

Taxing Wages

Purpose

To provide annual data for OECD countries on the personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees and their employers.

Objectives and outputs

The annual "Taxing Wages" publication details the tax/benefit position of employees, covering personal income tax and social security contributions paid by employees and their employers, and universal cash benefits received by family units. Taxes and benefits are detailed for eight family-types, which differ by income level and household composition. The report also presents the resulting average and marginal tax rates.

Databases

Taxing Wages.

Main Developments for 2010

General aspects:
Inclusion of data for new member countries.

Comparison of Employment and Costs in the Public Domain

Purpose

In collaboration with ILO, to assemble statistical data regarding employment in the public sector and in the "public domain", by taking into account different kinds of organisations (also public enterprises or private organisations financed by public funds), comparing them with the costs of production of the General Government Sector, in order to elaborate the main indicators and to gain a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the public sector.

Objectives and outputs

To update the 2008 publications on "The State of the Public Service" and "Employment in the public domain in the perspective of the production costs of goods and services in the public domain".

Databases

Public Sector Employment, Pay and Salaries.

Main Developments for 2010

General aspects:
More detailed metadata.

Management in Government

Purpose

To collect comparable data and indicators of good government and efficient public services, and to provide robust empirics with which to assess the impact of public management reforms and progress made in their implementation.

Objectives and outputs

The second edition of "Government at a Glance" will be released in 2011. It will include measures of both the market and non-market activities of government and government-owned enterprises. In addition it will also measure other activities which are undertaken outside of general government but which are wholly or partly funded by government. Data are based on general government labour statistics and on detailed information from general government national accounts (investments, public corporations, supply and use tables) and information collected by GOV surveys on governance and public output processes and their results. The second publication will include six categories of variables: revenues; inputs; public sector processes; and antecedents or constraints that contextualize government performance and will also add output and outcome measures for the "whole of government", for selected policy sectors and for the machinery of government.

General aspects:
In 2010 the main priorities are developing new indicators for the second edition of Government at a Glance and the development of a strategy in the long run for new data collection, including more measures about the quality of public sector processes and selected output and outcome measures.

Benefits and Wages

Purpose

Monitor reforms of tax and benefits systems and their impact on work incentives and income adequacy. Results are used as the basis of the OECD's "Benefits and Wages" publication and as inputs into a wide range of studies produced within and outside the OECD. In addition, the group develops and maintains tax-benefit models. These computer models allow a wide range of tax and benefit indicators to be produced. Finally, an online "tax-benefit calculator" has now been made available on the web-page www.oecd.org/els/social/workincentives and will be maintained and updated in the future.

Objectives and outputs

The Benefits and Wages series addresses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for different family types and labour market situations. The series is a valuable tool used to compare the different benefits made available to those without work and those with different levels of in-work income. The resulting indicators (such as 'net replacement rates') are useful for addressing issues of both work incentives and adequacy of household incomes.
Recent extensions include calculation of incomes and work incentives net of childcare costs. Country coverage were recently extended to include Turkey and, as part of a grant agreement with the European Commission, six of the new EU Members States who are not currently members of the OECD. Preliminary models have been developed for Candidate Countries and new members will be fully integrated into the database. Finally, ad-hoc models were developed jointly with the World Bank for a number of south-eastern European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Serbia.
An interface for interactive web access to tax-benefit models has been developed ("tax-benefit calculator") and is available on the web-page www.oecd.org/els/social/workincentives. It will be maintained and updated in the future.

General aspects:
Improved modelling of child-related policies, including transfers available to parents of very young children (e.g. maternity benefits). Improved modelling of the gender dimension of social policies (e.g. by collecting better earnings data for men and women).